Coal plane assembly having shiftable upper cutters



A. LGBBE A ril 13, 1965 GOAL PLANE ASSEMBLY HAVING SHIFTABLE UPPERCUTTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25, 1962 A. LCJBBE April 13, 1965GOAL PLANE ASSEMBLY HAVING SHIFTABLE UPPER CUTTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed July 23, 1962 United States Patent O 9 Claims. (31. 299-34 It isknown to design a coal plane in such a way that it cuts the coal faceadjacent the floor. It is also already known to provide additionalmeans, which attack the seam over its full height and pass along theroof with a top blade, so that an overhang of the coal face is avoided,which could be dangerous for the miners working on the seam. A coalplane for the cited purpose has two separate plane bodies rigged to eachother by a strong spring and disposed for doing the cutting adjacent thefloor. To these two plane bodies are linked the free extremities of anupstanding shears-shaped device carrying on its apex the roof blades.The legs of this shears-shaped device are provided over their fulllength or a part of it with blades facing the coal face, which bladespass along the coal face, loosening layers of coal.

It is furthermore already known to construct coal planes in such amanner, that the leading blades with respect to the direction ofmovement of the plane, are pulled against the face and also against thefloor, while'simultaneously the trailing blades, are retracted.

The invention proposes to link the free extremities of the shears-shapeddevice carrying the top blades to the blade carriers of the two planes,so that with the shifting of the two blade carriers, respectively,against the face and away from the face, also the shears-shaped deviceassumes an oblique position as compared with the coal face towards theone or the other side according to the working direction of the plane.Suitably the slides have an oblique surface directed towards the coalface on which guide pins protrude, on which the blade carriers areguided by oblique slots directed upward towards the extremity of theplane. With such a configuration and arrangement of the guide slotsthere is reached automatically the desired shifting of the bladecarriers, when the operating direction 1 of the plane is changed.Because of the resistance which the blades find on the coal face, theleading blade carrier is held so that its cutter edges are pulledsimultaneously into the coal face and the floor. The trailing bladecarrier makes the opposite movement and is thus lifted away from thecoal face as well as from the floor.

Instead of guiding the blade carriers by guide slots they could beguided also or in an additional manner by rails, on the slide, which arearranged parallel to the slots and overlap each other. These guide railswould be suitably arranged so that they prevent small coal particlesfrom penetrating into the slot between the slide and the blade carrier.

The accompanying drawings show two embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a front elevation of one embodiment,

FIG. 2 is a plan-view on the embodiment according to FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a section along theline 33 of FIG. 2,

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FIG. 4 shows the coupling of the coal plane with the planing chain,whereby the blade carriers and the shearsshaped device are not shown, ata considerably smaller scale,

FIG. 5 shows a front elevation of a second embodiment,

FIG. 6 shows the appertaining plan View,

FIG. 7 shows the guiding of the blade carrier on its slide, and

FIG. 8 shows a section along the line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

The coal plane according to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawing consists of twoseparate lower cutting tools, each for one operating direction and, eachof which slides by means of a slide 10, 11 on the floor and is guided ona long wall conveyer arranged behind it, which conveyor is not shown inthe drawing. The slides 10 and 11 are connected under the conveyer bymeans of a brace, so that they cannot be lifted from the floor. The twoslides 10 and 11 have in transverse section, about the shape of a righttriangle.

The hypotenuse 13 which is on top is directed obliquely towards the coalface. On this surface 13 guide pins 14 are arranged, on which the bladecarriers 15 are guided. The base plate of the blade carriers 15, whichrunsparallel to the surface 1'3 of the slides 10 and 11 is provided withobliquely running slots 16. The directions of the slots 16 of the twoblade carriers 15 diverge with respect to each other from the front ofthe plane. The intersection point of the longitudinal axes of the slotis in front of the plane in the coal face. Thetwo blade carriers 15 areconnected with each other by an articulated shears-shaped deviceconsisting of two upper cutting tools or shear arms 17. These two arms17 are connected with each other at their top end by means of a pivotpin 18. Besides they are connected at their bottom ends to the two bladecarriers 15 by means of a pivot pin 19 on each carrier. The pivot pins18 and 19 are thus parallel to each other. A roof cutting tool 26 ismounted at the apex of the shear-shaped device formed by the arms :17.The roof cutting tool includes the front blades 29a and 20b and topblade 20c, and is mounted at said apex on a vertical pin 18a so that theroof cutter can shift about a vertical axis, whereby in response toengagement with the coal face, whichever of the blades 20a or 26b isleading, is shifted into engagement with the coal face whereas thetrailing blade 20a or 2011, is shifted back from the engagement with thecoal face. Suitable means (not shown) are provided for limiting thepivot movement of the roof cutter about the pin 18. The two slides 10and 11 are rigged with each other by means of a strong spring connector21. The effective length of this spring connector 21 determines theheight to which the shears-shaped device 17, 20 stands up. The top blade20 glides along in each case on the roof. If the thickness of the seamis temporarily smaller, the spring 21 is correspondingly released.

It is essential that in the described design of the plane both carriers15 assume automatically a different position in comparison to theirappertaining slide and above all to the face of the coal depending onthe operating direction of the plane. The plane can be movedalternatively in direction 22 or in the opposite direction, in thedirection of the arrow 23 along the coal face. In operation of thedevice, in response to engagement of the plane with the coal face, theblade carrier 15 of the leading lower cutting tool in the movement ofthe plane across the face of the deposit being worked, shifts forwardtoward engagement with the coal or other material being mined. Further,the blade carrier 15 of the trailing lower cutter tool shifts back awayfrom engagement with the coal. Thus, upon movement of the plane in thedirection indicated by arrow 22, the blade carrier 15 on the right handside as seen in FIG. 2, shifts forward toward engagement with the coal,whereas the other blade carrier shifts back from such engagement. Sincethe upper cutting tools 17 are connected to the blade carriers, theyperform a corresponding shifting action, so that the leading uppercutting tool 17 is shifted forward toward engagement with the coal face,while the trailing upper cutting tool 17 shifts back from engagement.Further, due to the pivot mounting of the roof cutter 20 on pin 18, asis described above, the roof cutter shifts in a corresponding manner todirect the leading blades 20a or 2012 into engagement with the coalwhile the other of the blades 20a or 20b is shifted back away from suchengagement. The lower cutting tools have blades 15a, the upper cuttingtools have blades 17a, and the roof cutting tool has blades 20a, 20b and200, and these various blades perform cutting action in correspondencewith operation of the device as described above. The position of thevarious plane parts for movement in the direction 'of arrow 23 isindicated in phantom in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 of the drawing shows in which way a plane according to theinvention is suitably connected to the planing chain 24. The planingchain 24 is in this case closed in itself in'an endless manner. The twoslides 10 and 11 are connected each for itself with the planing chain 24by a short connection chain 25. In each case only that connection chainis tightened, which is in front in the direction of movement. In thistype of connection between the plane and the chain the spring 21 betweenthe two single lower cutting tools 10 and 11 remains free of thepretension of the plane chain 24. This pretension can reach veryconsiderable values and is, above all, subject to very considerablevariations. In the described novel coupling between the chain 24 and theplane 10, 11 the roof blade 20 is pressed continuously against the roofwith an essentially constant force. The embodiment according to FIGS. 5to 8 of the drawings shows the same reference numbers as the describedembodiment. It is diiferent from this latter by the type of connectionbetween the slide 10 or 11 and the bladecarrier 15. Particularly FIGS. 7and 8 show that the blade carrier 15 is guided again with an obliquelongitudinal slot 16 on the pin 14 of slide 11. The slide 11 has,however, additionally, a tongue and groove connection with thecorresponding blade carrier 15. Thus, a guide rail 26, which is directedobliquely downward against the floor, serves as a tongue and is receivedin groove 27 of the blade carrier. The tongue and groove connections runparallel to the slot 16 and are disposed betweenthe slot 16 and the faceof the deposit being worked so that the tongue and groove connectionsprevent small parti cles of coal from working their way from the Workingface to the slot 16, between the slide 11 and blade 15. In thisembodiment shifting occurs as described above with reference to theembodiments of FIGS. 1-3.

Furthermore the second embodiment according to FIGS. 5 to 8 is differentfrom the first embodiment by the fact that the upper cutting tools 17 ofthe shearsshaped device are not connected directly with the bladecarriers 15 by means of the horizontal articulation bolts, such as bolts19 shown in FIG. 1, but rather by means of a rotating disk 28, guided ina corresponding recess of the blade carrier 15. The articulation bolt 19on the one hand and the rotating disk 28 on the other hand form incommon one universal joint each. As can be seen clearly from the planview according to FIG. 6 there is the possibility in this type ofconnection that the assume a corresponding oblique position towards thecoal face. In the final result it is only the leading parts of the toolwhich are in engagement with the coal face, while the trailing parts arelifted from the coal face, so that friction resistance is notunnecessarily increased by reason of the trailing parts being inengagement with the coal.

I claim:

1. A plane adapted to be passed back and forth across a face of a bodyof mineral material to be extracted, which comprises:

(a) two lower cutting tools for working the lower portion of the face,said lower cutting tools being spaced from each other and connected byresilient connecting means,

(b) each lower cutting tool including a slide, a blade carrier and meansfor mounting the blade carrier on said slide for shifting forward towardengagement with the mineral material when the lower cutting tool is theleading lower cutting tool in the movement of the plane across face ofthe mineral material and for shifting back away from engagement with themineral material when the lower cutting tool is the trailing lowercutting tool in the movementof the plane across said face, and a blademounted on the blade carrier for engagement with said face when itsblade carrier is shifted forward,

(0) said resilient connecting means directly interconnecting the slidesof the two cutter tools,

(d) two upper cutting tools for working an upper portion of the face,each upper cutting tool having a bottom end and a top end, the bottomends of the upper cutter tools being connected one to the blade carrierof one one of the lower cutter tools and the other to the blade carrierof the other lower cutter tool, said connections of the bottom ends ofthe upper cutter tools being pivot connections for pivoting about ahorizontal axis, and the top ends of the upper cutter tools beingconnected together for pivoting about a horizontal axis, said uppercutter tools each having a blade mounted thereon for engagement withsaid face,

whereby each upper cutting tool is shifted forward toward engagementwith said face and back away from engagement with said face incorrespondence with the shifting of the lower cutter tool to which it isconnected.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resilient connectionbetween the lower cutter tools is between the blade carrier of each ofthe lower cutting tools.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, and including a roof cutting toolmounted on said upper cutting tool for cutting material from above saidface.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, the lower cutter tool mounting ofeach blade carrier on its slide comprising a pin and slot connection,the slot directions of the two two blade carriers 15 can swing in thenecessary position lower cutter tools diverging with respect to eachother from the front of the plane.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, the slides of the lower cutter toolseach having an oblique surface inclined toward the coal face, the bladecarrier being slidingly mounted on said oblique surfaces.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, the lower cutter tool mounting ofeach blade carrier on its slide comprising a tongue and grooveconnection in which the tongue is relatively slidable in the groove, thegroove directions of the two lower cutter tools diverging with respectto each other from the front of the plane.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, the lower cutter tool mounting ofeach blade carrier on its slide comprising a pin and slot connection,the slot directions of the two lower cutter tools diverging with respectto each other from the front of the plane, said grooves being formed inthe blade carriers, a portion of the slides being disposed in the,grooves as the tongues, the, tongue and groove connection of. each slidebeing disposed between 5 6 said face and said pin and slot connection ofthe slide, References Cited by the Examiner whereby penetration of coalparticles to between the slide UNITED STATES PATENTS and blade carrieris prevented.

8. Plane according to claim 1, the connection between ggfg the lowercutter tools and the upper cutter tools being 5 3 073 581 1/63 Lobbe.

universal connections.

9. Plane assembly including a plane according to claim FOREIGN PATENTS1, and mover means connected to said slides of the lower 914,7 7/54ycutter tools for moving the plane back and forth across 10 571,062 9/58Belgiumsaid face. BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No, 3,178,229 April 13, 1965 Armin Lobbe It is hereby certified that error appearsin the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the saidLetters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 3, line 58, for "blade 15" read blade carrier 15 column 4, line34, strike out "one", first occurrence.

Signed and sealed this 8th day of March 1966.

I L) kttest:

EDWARD -J. BRENNER Commissioner of Patents ERNEST W. SW'IDER lttestingOfficer

1. A PLANE ADAPTED TO BE PASSED BACK AND FORTH ACROSS A FACE OF A BODYOF MINERAL MATERIAL TO BE EXTRACTED, WHICH COMPRISES: (A) TWO LOWERCUTTING TOOLS FOR WORKING THE LOWER PORTION OF THE FACE, SAID LOWERCUTTING TOOLS BEING SPACED FROM EACH OTHER AND CONNECTED BY RESILIENTCONNECTING MEANS, (B) EACH LOWER CUTTING TOOL INCLUDING A SLIDE, A BLADECARRIER AND MEANS FOR MOUNTING THE BLADE CARRIER ON SAID SLIDE FORSHIFTING FORWARD TOWARD ENGAGEMENT WITH THE MINERAL MATERIAL WHEN THELOWER CUTTING TOOL IS THE LEADING LOWER CUTTING TOOL IN THE MOVEMENT OFTHE PLANE ACROSS FACE OF THE MINERAL MATERIAL AND FOR SHIFTING BACK AWAYFROM ENGAGEMENT WITH THE MINERAL MATERIAL WHEN THE LOWER CUTTING TOOL ISTHE TRAILING LOWER CUTTING TOOL IN THE MOVEMENT OF THE PLANE ACROSS SAIDFACE, AND A BLADE MOUNTED ON THE BLADE CARRIER FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH SAIDFACE WHEN ITS BLADE CARRIER IS SHIFTED FORWARD, (C) SAID RESILIENTCONNECTING MEANS DIRECTLY INTERCONNECTING THE SLIDES OF THE TWO CUTTERTOOLS, (D) TWO UPPER CUTTING TOOLS FOR WORKING AN UPPER PORTION OF THEFACE, EACH UPPER CUTTING TOOL HAVING A BOTTOM END AND A TOP END, THEBOTTOM ENDS OF THE UPPER CUTTER TOOLS BEING CONNECTED ONE TO THE BLADECARRIER OF ONE OF THE LOWER CUTTER TOOLS AND THE OTHER TO THE BLADECARRIER OF THE OTHER LOWER CUTTER TOOL, SAID CONNECTIONS OF THE BOTTOMENDS OF THE UPPER CUTTER TOOLS BEING PIVOT CONNECTIONS FOR PIVOTINGABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS, AND THE TOP ENDS OF THE UPPER CUTTER TOOLSBEING CONNECTED TOGETHER FOR PIVOTING ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS, SAIDUPPER CUTTER TOOLS EACH HAVING A BLADE MOUNTED THEREON FOR ENGAGEMENTWITH SAID FACE, WHEREBY EACH UPPER CUTTING TOOL IS SHIFTED FORWARDTOWARD ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FACE AND BACK AWAY FROM ENGAGEMENT WITH SAIDFACE IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE SHIFTING OF THE LOWER CUTTER TOOL TOWHICH IT IS CONNECTED.